Tuesday, 5 August 2014

Find Meaning in Tradition this Raksha Bandhan.

Being an elder sister is a task and quite honestly I find it very conflictive, the harmony between best friend, supporter, guide, confidant, teacher, loving sibling, driving instructor, sex educator, homework back up, Didi, gossip companion, psychiatrist, make up guru, nutritionist, the model for responsive behavior, 2 am fridge foodie companion, the one to try your first burnt cooking experiment, the one you decided to poop on as a baby, the boyfriend adviser, the one mum holds responsible for all your stunts, the tolerater, learning the art of being amused when annoyed, the bank, the punching bag, the bouncer, the one and only back up plan in your teen disasters, its hard to achieve balance ? isn't it

like every year the symbolic custom of Rakhi is back to get me annoyed at the prodigious of Indian tradition.

Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival that celebrates the love and duty between brothers and sisters; the festival is also popularly used to celebrate any brother-sister like loving protective relationship between men and women who are relatives or biologically unrelated. The brother pledges to protect her and take care of his sister under all circumstances.

See how Wikipedia's definition can annoy u if you only got sisters and you appose the celebration to only be about brothers who are strong enough to be protective. I am very protective of my sisters and yes they are as protective of me as I am of them. Guess what? no brothers involved.. we buy the Rakhis, we tie the Rakhis... and they mean more than empty promises of protection.

Dear Men who get a Rakhi tied on their wrist,

if you can't do the protection then stop with the hypocrisy.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat - "aping western culture led to a rise in rape crimes in the country"

"One has to abide by certain moral limits. If you cross this limit you will be punished, just like Sita was abducted by Ravana," Kailash Vijayvargiya